Haute Stuff

[Jenise]

So this morning I get up at 6 a.m. to have an early conversation with my financial planner and while my tea is steeping, I am straightening up around the kitchen including the bags of fruit I broiught home yesterday from Youngstock's farm market and even though I am anything but hungry first-thing, the bag of sweet cherry peppers I bought yesterday at Youngstock's farm market somehow talked to me and I reached into the bag, extracted one, pulled out the stem, and popped it into my mouth.

And then almost called the Fire Department.

Sweet my ass! It's been an hour now and it is maybe just now safe to put some warm tea in my mouth without igniting the fire all over again.

Ouch!

Your ass will indeed remind you of this!

It reminds me of the padron peppers in Spain. They're pretty mild, but there was always one ringer in the bowl that would... surprise you.

[Jenise]

Your ass will indeed remind you of this!

You know what you mentioned this, um, phenomena I guess years ago, and I was unfamiliar with it. I guess I'd never eaten anything quite that hot. But I'll have you know that two summers ago in Quongching, China, on a 115 degree day, alone with my thoughts in a little tiny room, I thought of you.

Your ass will indeed remind you of this!

You know what you mentioned this, um, phenomena I guess years ago, and I was unfamiliar with it. I guess I'd never eaten anything quite that hot. But I'll have you know that two summers ago in Quongching, China...

Jenise,
Every devoted chilihead knows this phenomenon all too well. Our mouths apparently can desensitize to capsaicin (the hot of chili peppers), but other tissue doesn't. That's also the reason that I wear gloves when cutting up habaneros or other hot peppers, a lesson learned only after several painful encounters with runny noses, itchy eyes and... in the bathroom.

Mark Lipton

That's why you always eat an ice cream cone afterwards. Then, the next morning you will be heard yelling, "Come on, ice cream!"

It's also incredible when you take a sip of hot coffee after eating hot chiles. Quite an intensifier.

Thus my favorite chile descriptor: "So hot it'll burn you twice!"

I had some sort of obscure Mexican pepper a couple of years ago that I swear I could track through every inch of my alimentary tract. I will admit that the next day I cried like a little girl.

I will admit that the next day I cried like a little girl.

Because you wanted another?

S&M is not my thing.

I must admit, though, I have a Thai curry recipe that these would work very well in.

Your ass will indeed remind you of this!

You know what you mentioned this, um, phenomena I guess years ago, and I was unfamiliar with it. I guess I'd never eaten anything quite that hot. But I'll have you know that two summers ago in Quongching, China, on a 115 degree day, in a little tiny room for one person at a time, I thought of you.

Jenise,
Every devoted chilihead knows this phenomenon all too well. Our mouths apparently can desensitize to capsaicin (the hot of chili peppers), but other tissue doesn't. That's also the reason that I wear gloves when cutting up habaneros or other hot peppers, a lesson learned only after several painful encounters with runny noses, itchy eyes and... in the bathroom.

Mark Lipton

I've done the eye thing a few times, and now I am extra careful.

Boy, oh boy, do I have good news for you. Anytime you eat a hot pepper and feel that you are suffering from it use the Mexican and Middle-Eastern "cure" - a slice of avocado. Chew that well and the mouth is fine. Oh yes....if avocado is not at hand, a slice of guava will do almost as well.

Best
Rogov

FYI a little known fact, that the morning after Johnny Cash was in a habanero face-off contest, that he wrote "Ring of Fire".